Researcher Explains How Crows Solved a Challenge From "Aesop's Fables."
New Caledonian crows were able to apply their natural understanding of cause and effect and the properties of objects.
It was there, on the island of Grand Terre, that Sarah Jelbert, a doctoral student at Auckland University in New Zealand, and her colleagues tested the crows' understanding of cause and effect by presenting them with a test straight out of Aesop's Fables.
In one fable, "The Crow and the Pitcher," a thirsty crow can't reach the water at the bottom of a pitcher, but then begins to drop one pebble after another into the vessel. Slowly, the water rises to the top, and the bird gets its drink. How did Jelbert's New Caledonian crows measure up when presented with a similar test?
The scientists recently published their results in PLOS One. National Geographic caught up with Jelbert by phone
